A DWT based Dual Image Watermarking Technique for Authenticity and Watermark Protection

Signal & Image Processing : An International Journal(SIPIJ) Vol.1, No.2, December 2010
DOI : 10.5121/sipij.2010.1204 33
A DWT based Dual Image Watermarking
Technique for Authenticity and Watermark
Protection
Shikha Tripathi1
, Nishanth Ramesh2
, Bernito A3
, Neeraj K J4
1
Dept. of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,
School of Engineering, Bangalore, India.
shikha.eee@gmail.com
2
Programmer Analyst Trainee, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Coimbatore, India.
nishanthr3105@gmail.com
3
Bernito A, Graduate student, Remote Sensing, Department of Civil Engineering,
Anna University, Tirunelveli, India.
bernitoxavier@gmail.com
4
Programmer Analyst Trainee, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Bangalore, India.
nkj.neeraj@gmail.com
Abstract
In this paper we propose a DWT based dual watermarking technique wherein both blind and non-blind
algorithms are used for the copyright protection of the cover/host image and the watermark respectively.
We use the concept of embedding two watermarks into the cover image by actually embedding only one, to
authenticate the source image and protect the watermark simultaneously. Here the DWT coefficients of the
primary watermark (logo) are modified using another smaller secondary binary image (sign) and the mid-
frequency coefficients of the cover/host image. Since the watermark has some features of host image
embedded in it, the security is increased two-fold and it also protects the watermark from any misuse or
copy attack. For this purpose a new pseudorandom generator based on the mathematical constant π has
been developed and used successfully in various stages of the algorithm. We have also proposed a new
approach of applying pseudo-randomness in selecting the watermark pixel values for embedding in the
cover image. In all the existing techniques the randomness is incorporated in selecting the location to
embed the watermark. This makes the embedding process more unpredictable. The cover image which is
watermarked with the signed-logo is subjected to various attacks like cropping, rotation, JPEG
compression, scaling and noising. From the results it has been found that it is very robust and has good
invisibility as well.
Keywords
Dual Watermark; Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Signed-Logo; Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR);
Mean Square Error (MSE).
1. INTRODUCTION
The proliferation of digitized media due to the rapid growth of networked multimedia systems has
created an urgent need for copyright enforcement technologies that can protect copyright
ownership of multimedia objects. Digital rights management (DRM) is a generic term for access
control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders
and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. The term is used

34
to describe any technology that inhibits use of digital content not desired or intended by the
content provider. Over the past few years the technology of digital watermarking has emerged as
a leading candidate that can solve the fundamental problem of legal ownership [1]. Applications
include copyright protection, authentication and data hiding. Though watermarking is generally
used to protect copyright of digital content, it is now finding use in other kinds of media like
printed materials, texture images, designs, copy machines, scanners and other applications where
copyright protection is required. Various watermarking schemes have been developed which
embed the watermark either in spatial or in the transform domain [2]-[4].
The concept of dual watermarking, wherein, two watermarks are embedded instead of one for
increased protection and security has been proposed earlier in both spatial and transform domains
[5]-[8], [15]-[22]. In this paper, Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) domain is used and the
watermark is embedded in the mid-frequency region, in order to achieve perceptual invisibility as
well as robustness to attacks [9].
A new concept of embedding two watermarks into the cover image by actually embedding only
one is introduced here, wherein features from the host image as well as the secondary watermark
are used. This is carried out by modifying the DWT coefficients of the primary watermark (a
grayscale logo/image) based on another meaningful secondary binary image (the sign) and some
statistical features of the cover image, prior to embedding into the cover image. The sign is
virtually embedded into the cover image through the logo i.e. the signed-logo is embedded into
the cover image.
A new approach for embedding is proposed, wherein, the watermark pixels are chosen pseudo-
randomly, besides pseudo-randomly selecting the locations for embedding the watermark in the
mid-frequency region of the source image. This increases the security two-fold. The highlight of
the process is that we incorporate both blind and non-blind methods into one watermarking
scheme i.e. the sign is embedded into the logo in a non-blind fashion to create a signed-logo
which is then embedded into the cover image in a blind fashion. Thus we achieve a two-level
security by actually using only one watermark. Moreover in any watermarking scheme, the
watermark is also an official property of the embedding authority. The concept of signing the
watermark rules out any possibility of malicious use of the watermark. The original logo is
available only to the authentic receivers. The standard deviation of the second level and first level
mid-frequency coefficients of the cover image are used in both blind and non-blind methods
respectively [10]-[11].
To further increase the security a pseudo random number generator (PRNG) is used at various
instances in the algorithm. This reduces the chances of watermark extraction by prediction. We
have developed a PRNG based on the universal constant π [12].
The proposed watermarking scheme can be made intelligent by adding an adaptive fuzzy logic
interface to judge the strength of watermark and optimize the watermark embedding process
which forms the future scope of this work.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the pseudo-random number
generator and Section 3 describes the non-blind embedding algorithm. Section 4 discusses blind
embedding algorithm. In Section 5 we explain the watermark extraction operation. In Section 6
we present the experimental results and conclude in Section 7.

35
1. PSEUDO RANDOM GENERATOR
A pseudo random generator based on π is proposed and used in the embedding and extraction
process. The value of π is known to be a series of continuous and random numbers occurring in a
non-repetitive fashion. This pseudo random generator is used in determining the subblock
locations and also in selecting the pixel values of the watermark which are to be
embedded/extracted. The random number is generated as follows:
x(k)= pi(M)+i
M = M+j
(1)
where, x(k) represents the selected number, M is the key used (K1, K2, K3, K4, K5), pi(M) is Mth
position of real part of π and i & j are the variable loop parameters. This makes the selections
more random and unpredictable. The randomness obtained by this pseudo random generator is
very good and proves resistant to most of the attacks.
3. NON BLIND EMBEDDING ALGORITHM
The sign (p x q binary image) is embedded into the logo (m x n grayscale image) as follows:
Firstly the original logo is divided into various subblocks and pxq subblocks are chosen pseudo-
randomly for embedding each bit of the sign. Each subblock is decomposed into single level of
DWT.
For any ith
subblock Si, all the wavelet coefficients of LH and HL subbands are raised or lowered
by a value K depending on the bit sign(i).
If sign(i)=0
then Ci(x,y)= Ci(x,y) – Ki
(2)
Else if sign(i)=1
Then Ci(x,y)=Ci(x,y)+Ki
(3)
Where Ci(x,y) refers to the wavelet coefficients of Si and (x,y) corresponds to the coordinates of
the wavelet coefficients of the LH and HL subbands in Si.
The image dependent parameter Ki is derived from the standard deviation of the second level mid-
frequency coefficients of the cover image. Ki is also suitably quantized in the range of wavelet
coefficients Ci. IDWT is applied to all the subblocks resulting in the signed logo. This signed
logo is used as the watermark for the blind embedding process.
4. BLIND EMBEDDING ALGORITHM
This algorithm makes use of the concept of thresholding. The watermark (Wm) is a m x n image
and the cover image (Im) is of size k x k. The proposed algorithm uses the standard deviation of
the sub-blocks to determine the threshold levels. There are 256 different threshold levels to
uniquely distinguish each pixel of the grayscale watermark (8-bit resolution). The block diagram
for the above process is shown in Fig. 1.
The pseudo random generator is used to linearize the watermark into a mn x 1 pseudo-random
sequence (Lw) using the keys K1, K2. The LH and HL subbands of Im are used for embedding
Wm. A total of mn subblocks are chosen pseudo-randomly from LH and HL subbands using the
key K5.

36
Encoding is done using the keys K3, K4 to determine the embedding location (EM, a 2D array)
within each of the selected subblocks.
For any ith subblock
∑
∈






−
=
i
S
y
x
i y
x
C
M
i
mean
)
,
(
)
,
(
1
1
)
(
(4)
{ }
∑
∈
−






−
=
i
S
y
x
i i
mean
y
x
C
M
i
std
)
,
(
2
)
(
)
,
(
1
1
)
(
(5)
Where the index i varies from 1 to pq and indicates the subblock number; M is the total size of
each subblock; Si refers to ith subblock; Ci(x,y) is the DWT coefficient of the location (x,y)
within the ith subblock. For ith subblock, the mean and standard deviation (std) are calculated
using only (M-1) locations (i.e. excluding the embedding location EMi(x,y)).
For finding the different threshold levels the following formula has been defined:
Th(j) = A*std(i)+B*j
(6)
Where j is the running index which decides the 256 unique threshold values and A, B are secret
keys. Based on the value of Lw(i), a value is assigned to EMi (x,y) depending on the value of the
corresponding threshold Th(i). A parameter Q is used for quantization as shown:
i
M
E ′ (x,y) = EMi (x,y)/Q where i
M
E ′ (x,y) is the new value assigned to EMi(x,y).
(7)
By following the above procedure Wm can be uniformly embedded into the LH and HL
subbands. Finally, the IDWT is taken which results in the watermarked image.
5. WATERMARK EXTRACTION
In this section we discuss the extraction procedure of the signed logo in stage 1 followed by the
sign in stage 2.
5.1 Stage 1
The watermark extraction is reverse of the embedding procedure. After extracting the wavelet
coefficient C*i(x,y) is scaled back using the quantization factor Q. This is used to determine the
ith value of the extracted pseudo-randomly linearized watermark (WM) as shown below:
Ci(x,y) = (C*i(x,y))*Q
const
j
th
y
x
C
if
j
i
WM i ±
∈
= )
(
)
,
(
)
(
(8)
where const is the predetermined tolerance value which depends on the parameters A and B.
Finally the watermark (Wm*) is recovered from the above pseudo-random linear array (WM)
using the same keys K1, K2. In some cases, the extracted coefficient may not correspond to any
of the 256 thresholds calculated. This might be due to any intentional/unintentional attack on the
watermarked image. In such cases the lost watermark pixels can be reconstructed with the help of
the recovered neighboring pixel values. In this technique the neighboring pixel values are
averaged to generate the lost value. Thus if a smooth grayscale watermark is chosen, it improves
the efficiency of the watermark extraction even during attacks.

37
Figure 1. Block diagram to embed and extract watermark
5.2 Stage 2
From the signed logo which is obtained from stage 1 the sign is extracted using the original logo
as follows:
The original logo and the extracted logo are divided into sub blocks and transformation is taken
as explained in the embedding procedure. The sum of the mid-frequency coefficients of each
corresponding sub block is then compared and based on their difference the sign bit is determined
as follows.
If Sum(j) > Sum*(j) then the embedded bit
sign(j) = 0
else if Sum(j)< Sum*(j) then
sign(j) = 1
where j refers to the sub block index and Sum and Sum* denote the sum of all the wavelet
coefficients in the LH and HL sub bands of jth
sub block in original and signed logo respectively.
During the process of watermark embedding and extracting, the initial seeds to the pseudo-
random generator (K1, K2) <applied to Wm>, K5 <to select different sub blocks> and (K3, K4)
<to determine the embedding location within each sub block> are used as secret keys. The
parameters A, B, Q together with the watermark size and the above mentioned initial seeds can be
used as secret keys. It is impossible to extract the watermark without these secret keys.
Furthermore the original logo can be made available only to authorized receivers who will be able
to extract the sign.

38
6. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The cover/host image used is 512x512 grayscale 'Lena' and the logo is a 64x64 grayscale image
of 'Einstein'. The sign is a 16x16 binary image having the letters 'D I I A' on it. The various keys
used for testing were K1=11, K2=21, K3=31, K4=41, K5=51, A=250, B=2.5 and Q=4800. The
cover image which is watermarked with the signed-logo, is subjected to attacks like cropping,
rotation, JPEG compression, scaling and noising. For each type of attack the results are computed
for the maximum extent that can be tolerated. The metric used for evaluating the quality of
extracted watermark and watermarked image is PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio).








−
=








=
∑∑
= =
q
n
p
m
n
m
f
n
m
f
pq
MSE
MSE
n
PSNR
1 1
2
*
2
)
,
(
)
,
(
1
log
*
10
(9)
Where pq is the size of two images f and f* whose PSNR is to be determined and n is taken to be
256.
From the results in Table I-VI, we observe that this watermarking scheme is robust to
compression and other common image processing operations like cropping, rotation, scaling and
noising. We also evaluate the quality by computing their corresponding Correlation Factor, which
is given by,
∑
∑
∑
=
=
=
=
N
i
i
N
i
i
N
i
i
i
w
w
w
w
w
w
1
2
1
2
1
ˆ
ˆ
)
ˆ
,
(
ρ
(10)
where w is the original image and ŵ is the extracted image. N is the total number of pixels
present in the image. Correlation Factor takes values between 0 & 1. A Correlation factor of 0.75
or more is acceptable [13].
Fig. 2 shows the result of the proposed technique without any attack. The extracted cover image
and sign have good PSNR & the watermark is imperceptible in the watermarked image.
Figure 2. PSNR values of the cover image, extracted watermark and the sign

39
A comparative analysis is done between the proposed technique and a multi-watermarking
technique suggested in [14]. This has been chosen as reference as it gives the results for various
attacks and is robust. Comparison of the Correlation Factors of the watermark (signed-logo)
extracted from the attacked watermarked cover image is done for various attacks as shown in
Table IV-VIII and Fig. 3-7.
Table 1. Watermarked image under Gaussian Noise attack
Table 2. Watermarked image under salt and pepper Noise attack
Table 3. Watermarked image under speckle noise attack

40
Table 4. Watermarked image under cropping attack
Table 5. Watermarked image under jpeg compression attack
Table 6. Watermarked image under rotation attack

41
Table 7. Watermarked image under scaling attack
Figure 3. Comparison under compression attack

42
Figure 4.Comparison under cropping attack
Figure 5.Comparison under rotationg attack
Figure 6. Comparison under scaling attack

43
7. CONCLUSION
In this paper a new DWT based watermarking scheme is proposed which makes use of both blind
and non-blind algorithms. The highlight of the algorithm is that besides protecting the copyright
of the host image it also protects the watermark from any misuse. Since the embedding process
uses data from the source image as well, the extraction of watermark by an unauthorized person is
not possible. It thus serves the twin purpose of providing copyright protection to the watermark
and increasing the security of the whole process. For this purpose a new pseudo random generator
based on the mathematical constant π has been developed and used successfully at various stages
in the algorithm. The new concept of applying pseudo randomness in selecting the watermark
pixels makes the process more resistant to attacks. In the proposed technique the randomness is
also incorporated in selecting the location to embed the watermark. The watermarked image was
tested under various attacks and the results show that the proposed technique is better than the
contemporary techniques. Also the dependency of the watermark on the cover image makes the
technique resistant to copy attacks. Results show that the method is resistant to most of the
commonly occurring attacks.
The proposed technique can be made more robust by introducing the concept of Fuzzy Logic,
Adaptive Fuzzy Logic or Neural Networks. In this method, fuzzy Logic can be used instead of
pseudo-random approach, in the selection of the subblocks, where the watermark pixels are to be
embedded.
REFERENCES
[1] C I Podilbuk and E. J. Delp, (2001) “Digital watermarking: Algorithms and applications”, IEEE
Signal Processing Magazine, Vol. 18, No.4, pp33-46.
[2] Darko Kirovski, Henrique S. Malvar and Yacov Yacobi,( 2002) “Multimedia Content Screening
using a Dual Watermarking and Fingerprinting System”, Proceedings of the tenth ACM
international conference on Multimedia, pp.372 – 381.
[3] Sung Jin Lim, Hae Min Moon, Seung-Hoon Chae, Sung Bum Pan, Yongwha Chung and Min Hyuk
Chang, (2008), “Dual Watermarking Method for Integrity of Medical Images”, Second
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[4] Mingyi Jiang. Giiopiiig Xo, Dongfeiig Yuan, (2004) “A Novel Blind Watermarking Algorithm Based
on Multiband Wavelet Transform”, Proceedings of ICSP, pp. 857-860.
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Technique for Images”, Proceedings of the 7th ACM International Multimedia Conference, pp.
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[6] Maha Sharkas, Dahlia ElShafie, and Nadder Hamdy, (2005) “A Dual Digital-Image Watermarking
Technique”, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 5, pp. 136-139.
[7] Mathias Schlauweg, Dima Pröfrock, Benedikt Zeibich and Erika Müller, (2006) “Dual
Watermarking for Protection of Rightful Ownership and Secure Image Authentication”, MCPS'06,
Santa Barbara, California, USA, pp. 59-66, October.
[8] R.Dhanalakshmi, K.Thaiyalnayaki, (2010) “Dual Watermarking Scheme with Encryption”, (IJCSIS)
International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 248-253.
[9] A. Miyazaki, A. Okamoto. (2002) “Analysis of watermarking systems in the frequency domain and
its application to design of robust watermarking systems”, IEICE Trans., Vol E85, No 1, pp.117-
124.

44
[10] P. Meerwald and A. UhI, (2001) “A Survey of wavelet-Domain watermarking Algorithms”,
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[11] Zhang Guannan, Wang Shuxun and Nian Guijun, (2004) “A Blind Watermarking Algorithm Based
on DWT
Color Image”, Intl. Symposium on Multi-Dimensional Mobile Communications, Vol. 2,pp. 634-
638.
[12] Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot, Scott A. Vanstone, (1997) “Handbook of applied
cryptography”, CRC Press LLC, ISBN 0-8493-8523-7, pp.169-190.
[13] Ali Al-Haj, (2007) “Combined DWT-DCT Digital Image Processing”, Journal of Computer
Sciencs, Science Publications.
[14] S.M. Mohidul Islam, Rameshwar Debnath, S.K. Alamgir Hossain, (2007) “DWT Based Digital
Watermarking Technique and its Robustness on Image Rotation, Scaling, JPEG Compression,
Cropping and Multiple Watermarking,” ICICT.
[15] Peining Tao, Ahmet M. Eskicioglu, (2004) “A Robust Multiple Watermarking scheme in Discrete
Wavelet Transform domain”, Optics East.
[16] Maha Sharkas, Dahlia ElShafie, Nadder Hamdy, (2005) “A Dual Digital-Image Watermarking
Technique”, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology.
[17] R Dhanalakshmi, K Thaiyalnayaki, (2010) “Dual Watermarking Scheme with Encryption”,
International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, Vol. 7, No. 1.
[18] Saeed K Amirgholipour, Ahmad R. Naghsh-Nilchi, (2009) “Robust Digital Image Watermarking
based on joint DWT-DCT”, International Journal of Digital Content Technology and its
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[19] V. Santhi, Dr. Arunkumar Thangavelu, (2009) “DWT-SVD combined Full Band Robust
Watermarking Technique for color Images in YUV color space”, International Journal of
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[20] Wei Xia, Hongwei Lu, Yizhu Zhao, (2010) “A Dual Binary Image Watermarking Based on Wavelet
Domain and Pixel Distribution Features”, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
[21] Pankaj U Lande, Sanjay N. Tablar, G.N. Shinde, (2010) “A Fuzzy logic approach to encrypted
Watermarking for still Images in Wavelet domain on FPGA”, International Journal of Signal
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[22] Hung-H. Tsai, Chi-C. Liu, Kuo-C. Wang, (2007) “Blind Wavelet-based Image Watermarking based
on HVS and Neural Networks”.
Dr. Shikha Tripathi joined Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, School of Engineering,
Bangalore campus in July 2009. Currently, she is serving as Associate professor & Vice-Chair, Dept. of
Electronics and Communication Engineering. Prior to this she was working as Group leader (Head),
Electronics & Instrumentation Group at BITS Pilani. She was at BITS, Pilani from January 1998 to July
2009. Prior to joining BITS, Pilani, she was in Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai as Assistant System

45
Analyst during Sept 1992 and Aug 1993 and Faculty Member, Department of Electronics &
Communication Engineering, Bangalore University during Jan 1994 to Dec 1997.
Her research interests include Image Compression, image watermarking, Digital Signal/image Processing,
document image processing, reconfigurable architectures for Software Defined Radio (SDR) and skew
estimation techniques in document images. Currently she is working on speaker/face recognition
techniques.
Nishanth Ramesh was born on May 31, 1988 in Mysore District in India. He attained
Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetam, Amrita University-Bangalore in 2010. Presently he is working as ‘Programmer Analyst
Trainee’ in ‘Cognizant Technology Solutions’, Coimbatore. His research interests are Signal Processing,
Image Processing, Digital Watermarking.
Bernito A was born on July 29, 1988 in Kanyakumari district in India. He attained
his Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication from Amrita University, Bengaluru in
2010. Presently he is pursuing his Master of Technology in Remote Sensing in Anna University of
Technology, Tirunelveli.
His areas of interest are Digital Image Processing, Digital Image Watermarking, Interpretation of satellite
images and Hyperspectral Imaging.
Neeraj Kannoth Jayraj was born on January 13, 1989 in Kasargode(Dt), Kerala. He
did his schooling in Chinmaya Vidyalaya. Trissur. He completed Bachelor of Technology in Electronics
and Communication from Amrita University, Bengaluru in 2010. Currently he is working in ‘Cognizant
Technology Solutions’, Bengaluru as ‘Programmer Analyst Trainee’.

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